The interview was going well enough. B.C. premier Christy Clark had come prepared. Then she launched into the “sick” Victoria stuff.

She had wanted to talk about pipelines — the hottest topic in B.C. all year — and her efforts to sell natural resources to China. It was early May in Vancouver, and Ms. Clark was about to embark on a trade mission to Asia.

I had wanted to discuss her troubled B.C. Liberal party, and how she planned to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in a general election 12 months hence.

[np-related /]

We covered those topics and more in three quarters of an hour.

“Thanks a lot,” I said to Ms. Clark, thinking we were winding up.

“When the House rises at the end of March [she meant May], you’re never going to find me in Victoria,” Ms. Clark said.

“I’m going to be travelling the province for the next year. This is my home base. I try never to go over there. Because it’s sick. It’s a sick culture. All they can think about is government and there are no real people in Victoria, and you get captured by this inside-the-beltway debate, and it’s really unhealthy.”

Ms. Clark had obviously meant the B.C. legislature when she talked about Victoria’s “sick culture,” where there “are no real people.” She didn’t mean the entirety of the city and its population.

But a provincial politician — the premier, no less — who “tries never to go over” to the legislature is probably in the wrong job. I tucked away those comments, and got on with writing about pipelines and the Liberal party’s future.

Politicians everywhere have described feelings of isolation and loneliness inside the legislative environment. “Dome disease,” it’s called

Late last month, B.C. Liberal MLAs and cabinet ministers started dropping like flies, announcing they were calling it quits and not running for re-election in 2013.

I wrote a story about all that, noting the premier’s own aversion to the political cut and thrust, and I used her candid “sick culture” quote.

This week, as debate swirled around Ms. Clark’s decision to not recall the Legislative Assembly for a fall sitting, I wrote a second story, “B.C. Premier Avoids ‘Sick Culture’ in Legislature,” with her comments again used in the relevant context.

Some media in Victoria grabbed the story Wednesday and turned it into a Premier-loathes-Victoria-and-everyone-who lives-there piece. Local residents were canvassed; expressions of personal affront and hurt were sought. Inevitably, a Facebook campaign was launched.

Ms. Clark tried to limit any potential damage, telling reporters at a Richmond, B.C., event that she had only meant to suggest politicians need to spend time away from the legislative grounds, and more time in the communities where people live and work, listening to their concerns. But the larger point seemed lost.

Vancouver Sun columnist Craig McInnes clearly spelled it out. “While it’s hard not to interpret [her comments] as an insult to Victorians,” he wrote, “I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and take her word for what she meant to say. But what she meant to say was in many ways worse. If there is a ‘sick culture’ in the legislature, whose fault is it and who is better placed to nurse it back to health than the premier?”

On Thursday, Ms. Clark found a different target while trying to explain herself.

“It’s a lot like the way you hear, for example, President Obama talk about the folks in Ottawa, or the folks in Washington,” she told CBC Victoria radio host Gregor Craigie.

“He’s not talking about the unemployed guy who’s trying to find a job in Washington, D.C. He’s talking about the politicians, the pundits, the lobbyists, that populate the precincts of Capitol Hill. The reporter knew exactly what I was talking about, when I told him about that, and some of it was clearly lost in translation.”

“But when you said there were no real people in Victoria, you can understand why people might have got the wrong impression, can you?” asked Mr. Craigie.

“Yes, I can,” the Premier replied. “Absolutely I can. And you know, I think I certainly will be much more careful, with that reporter in particular, in the future about stuff like that, but I think he knew exactly what I was talking about when I said, I was talking about the legislature.”

Alas, nothing was lost in translation, until the weird frenzy on the ground this week. I’ll wager there are plenty more people — inside the capital and out — coming around to the premier’s point of view. About the phoniness, and things being sick.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.